A Bunny Baby Shower

I recently helped throw a baby shower for my good friend Alyssa. She is decorating her nursery with bunnies and chose the color theme of green and brown for the shower. I made my favorite sugar cookies with royal icing and some chocolate cup cakes with bright green cream cheese frosting.

Brown Sugar and Spice Sugar Cookies:

 

Ingredients:

• 3  cups flour 
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp. grated nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. allspice
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 sticks butter, at room temperature
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices in a  bowl and whisk together

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the sugar and butter. Add the egg and vanilla. Mix until well blended.

3. Mix in the flour mixture a little bit at a time and beat until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. 

4. Roll out the dough into a disk between parchment paper or plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about 30 minute (or speed it up in the freezer for about 10 minutes).  Roll it out on a lightly floured surface and use cookie cutters to make shaped cookies.

5. Lay cookies out on a baking sheet and refrigerate for another 10-15 minutes. This prevents them from spreading when they cook. Bake for about 10-12 minutes at 350 F. Let them cool completely before decorating.

Royal Icing:

Ingredients:

• 3 oz. pasteurized egg whites
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4 C. powdered sugar

OR

• 4 C. powdered sugar
• 2 TBSP. Meringue powder
• 5 TBSP water

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer combine egg whites and vanilla and beat until frothy. Gradually add the powdered sugar and mix on low until the sugar is incorporated and the mixture looks shiny. Turn speed up to high and beat until it forms stiff, glossy peaks. This took me about 6 or 7 minutes.

To Ice the cookies:

Once you have your icing, you need to plan out what colors and how much of each color you will need. I found it very helpful to draw out my cookies on paper ahead of time and figure out what colors I wanted to use. I decided on:

white bunnies:

brown bunnies:

and orange and green carrots:

Separate your icing out into a Tupper-ware for each color. Make sure each one has a lid so it doesn’t dry when you aren’t using it. You can save some of my white icing out just incase you need to lighten the color or thicken it later. The icing should be kind of thick so it doesn’t just run off your spoon, but thin enough to stir it around easily. Add a couple drops of water at a time to thin and add a little bit of powdered sugar to thicken.  Mix in the colors you want. It is best to use gel food coloring because it doesn’t change the consistency of the icing and it produces more vibrant colors. .  And you can find more colors like brown and black and pink. Americolor or Wilton are good brands. You can find Wilton gels at Wal-Mart and Americolor at amazon.com. Americolor is nice because it comes in squeeze tubes.

Load up your bags with icing to outline the cookie with, reserving some to flood the cookie with later on. You don’t need very much in the bag. A little bit goes a long way. When you are not using a color just tip the bag upside down in a cup with a little bit of water at the base so that the frosting doesn’t dry up in the piping tip. Just use a plain circle tip, not too thick, but not to thin.

Now, outline the cookies with the piping bags. It is easiest to sit down with your arm resting against the table. After you out line all the cookies, let them harden for about an hour. This is ideal, but really, it dries very fast. I didn’t wait an hour. I started onto the next step right away because the first ones I outlined were dry by the time I finished outlining.

Next, you need to take the reserved frosting in the containers and make your flooding frosting. Add a couple of drops of water to the frosting at a time until it is just thin enough to dribble off your spoon. Let the frosting sit for about 5-10 minutes so all the air bubbles can rise to the top. Give the frosting one stir to pop all the bubbles and you are good to go. 

Now using a spoon, scoop a little bit of frosting into the boundaries of the outlined border. Spread it out with a toothpick or with the spoon. A little bit goes a long ways. Start by putting less frosting in the middle and trying to spread it out. This helps you to not overflow and make a huge mess. If you get air bubbles on your cookie, pop them with a tooth pick point. Set the cookies aside to dry for a couple of hours. Again, I only waited about 10 minutes before moving on. But you might need to wait longer if you flood the frosting on thicker. Don’t add any details on top, until the flooding is dry.

If you want to add sprinkles, like I did in the ears and tail, squeeze out some white frosting in the area you want the sprinkles. Pour the sprinkles on a paper plate and press the fresh frosting against the sprinkles. I used small non-pareils for the bunny tail and light pink sugar crystals for the ears.

Now, pipe on the detail work with the thicker frosting that is still in the piping bags. Let them dry until they are smooth and hard to the touch. The longer you let them dry, the more firm the frosting will be. Add the eyes and nose with a little bit of dyed frosting, or colored chocolate decorating squeeze bottles.

 

Cream Cheese Frosting:

I just used a cake mix for the cake batter, but here is the recipe for the cream cheese frosting:

Ingredients:

• 2 (8 oz.) packages of cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 stick butter, room temperature
• 2 Cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• food coloring (optional)

Directions:

1. Beat together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla .

2. Slowly add the powdered sugar until incorporated.

3. Mix in the food coloring. Store leftovers in the covered in the fridge.

My friend Jess cut out little brown bunnies and put them on toothpicks. She is awesome! Check out her craft blog: All For This Penny.

Some of the other yummy treats at the shower:

I had a blast making these treats for you Alyssa! Good luck with your new little one!